


Ghost in the Manakravte

by fjalamoth



Category: fault (Visual Novels)
Genre: Empress Syndrome, F/F, Gen, Ritona/Selphine UST but nothing really happens yet, this will probably get Jossed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 15:12:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17046023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fjalamoth/pseuds/fjalamoth
Summary: It’s completely unprecedented for Empress Syndrome to last for days. There are consequences.





	Ghost in the Manakravte

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ried (riiiied)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/riiiied/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide!
> 
> Also, I'm just going to assume that Ritona somehow gets out of Neo Sasary alive and with her manakravting abilities intact and be really vague on how exactly that happens.

Once the dust settles and the trio are safely on their way away from Neo Sasary, Ritona immediately notices that something is different about Selphine.

She is more quiet, more contemplative. But not in a moody, typically teenage way, no - she’s just more settled in herself, more mature, more measured in her reactions. She’s also more troubled. It’s as if a mountain’s worth of experience suddenly is weighing down on her.

When Selphine falls asleep that night, Ritona finally gets the chance to ask Rune about what happened. “I would’ve asked Selphine, but something tells me that she didn’t want to talk about it yet”, she explains. “My memory of my time in Neo Sasary is blurry, but I do remember that Selphine had Empress Syndrome. Were you attacked?”

“Not exactly, no.” Rune looks troubled. “Selly meditated for aaaages and brought Rhegan out to help. We were desperate, you see. I don’t know if Selly knew that she’d be stuck as Rhegan for days-”

“Days?!” Cold fear grips Ritona.

“Yeah, that’s how you reacted when I told you earlier, through the transceiver. Is something wrong?”

“I don’t remember much of that conversation,” Ritona confesses. “I was pretty out of it. But it’s unheard for Emperor Syndrome for last for more than an hour, let alone _days._ It shouldn’t even be possible! Being submerged under Empress Syndrome that long could cause the original personality to be overwritten.”

“But Selly’s fine now, though? She’s still Selly. It’s probably just hard for her, having had to kill that guy and all..- ”

“She killed someone?!” Ritona didn’t mean to raise her voice, but the shock makes the words come out shrill and Selphine stirs and mumbles something in her sleep.

“Shh, not so loud!” Rune makes a shushing sound with her hand. “She had to, I mean, he was a really bad guy. He as good as murdered a little girl. He couldn’t be allowed to live and hurt more people. And the worst thing is, Selly couldn’t even tell anyone about what he did!”

As Rune begins to explain what transpired between her, Selphine, Sol and his little sister Mil, Ritona feels even worse about her own role in all of this. This was all her fault, if only she hadn’t disappeared and left the princess to fend for herself! But, at least this somewhat explains the change in Selphine. Taking a life is never easy, and in the span of just a few weeks the girl has been forced to lose a lot of her innocence and carefree nature. The burden of royalty must never have weighed more upon her than now. Closing her eyes to sleep, heart filled with compassion for what her friend is going through, Ritona thinks no more of the Empress Syndrome. 

 

 

*

 

Ritona has always been the older of the two, and although the difference in years is not all that large it is still something that has surfaced from time to time. But recently Ritona has started to experience the unsettling feeling that she is younger than Selphine, a wholly ridiculous notion that she somehow still can’t shake. She can't even put the finger on what exactly is making her feel this way. It is not down to any single moment or action Selphine displays, it's in her entire way of being. Maybe this is just Selphine finally growing into her own. Perhaps this is simply what it means to be the future ruler of Rughzenhaide: the ability to make others feel immature and inexperienced in comparison. 

But then Ritona catches Selphine studying her, one evening.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Just that you are so very young.” And with those cryptic words, Selphine turns around and exits the room. Ritona feels goosebumps breaking out on her skin.

 

*

 

“…Did you just steal that guy’s wallet?” Ritona knows that she must’ve misunderstood something, because there’s no way that the Selphine she knows ever would do something like that. Selphine doesn’t seem too bothered by the accusation though.

“Hmm, we need to get across the river and we don’t have any money. Unless we want to be stuck here for weeks, we need to do something about it. So I did.”

Selphine must’ve noticed Ritona’s incredulous expression, because she continues. “Don’t worry, he’s pretty wealthy, he will be alright even without it.”

“That’s not the problem! Selphine, princess, do you even hear yourself? This is not like you at all!”

At this Selphine, who up to this point has been striding confidently in front of Ritona, freezes.

“You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry!”

“No, it’s alright, I just…”

“I’ll return the money, and we’ll find another way.” Selphine sounds so genuinely shaken that Ritona is taken aback and doesn’t have the heart to question her sudden change of mind. But a worry is growing at the back of her mind.           

 

*

 

“I don’t know where Rhegan ends and I start anymore”.

It’s certainly not what Ritona wants to hear when Selphine finally decides to unburden herself. But it’s important that she not lose her cool in front of Selphine, not when the princess so obviously is trying to put on a brave face too. They’re sitting at a pier, just a couple of travellers in a new town. Rune is running looking around for lodgings, so for the moment they’re alone, just the two of them.

“Do you… You’re not still experiencing some form of lingering Empress syndrome?”

“I don’t think so, no. I had hoped that it would all fade, but it’s not going away. It’s like she’s part of me now.” Selphine is looking at the tiny fishes fluttering near the visible outlines of the boats tied to the pier.

“Like how it’s supposed to happen eventually, with the Path-Down? I know it’s still too early but maybe the extended Empress Syndrome expedited the process…”

“I don’t know. But I just have this feeling that this is different. I used to be so scared of absorbing Rhegan’s memories and personality. I used to be scared of a lot of things, you know,” Selphine confesses. “But now that it’s actually happened, and in a worse way than it was supposed to, now I’m not scared anymore. Why am I not scared, Ritona?” Suddenly Selphine looks straight at Ritona, eyes blazing in a way that uncomfortably reminds Ritona of when the princess was experiencing Empress syndrome. But then Selphine’s lip trembles and Ritona sees that her hand now gripping Ritona’s arm is shaking, and that breaks the spell.

“Am I becoming her? I keep having these _feelings_ and these _memories_ and they feel like they’re mine but I know they can’t be. It’s not like with the other ancestors at all, where I’ve always been able to separate them from me. Am I even myself anymore? Would I know if I wasn’t me?”

“Oh, Selphine.” Ritona’s not much for displays of affection, but she can’t watch Selphine suffer like this without drawing her into a hug. ”It sounds like you _are_ scared.”

“But I’m not.” Selphine’s voice is muffled as her face is buried in Ritona’s embrace. “I feel like I can keep going no matter what. And the worst thing is I feel, no I know, that I can do horrible things now if I need to. Ritona, when I killed that man, I didn’t hesitate at all!”

“He was the worst kind of scum! Besides, you were experiencing Empress Syndrome!”

“It doesn’t matter! Because I would do it all again right here, right now!”

Out of the corner of her eye Ritona notices that people are starting to stare at them. They’re making quite a scene. If Ritona wasn’t so worried, she’d be really embarrassed. Selphine doesn’t seem to notice the stares though. 

“I’m now the kind of person who would steal money from innocents just to make things easier for myself. Ritona, am I still Selphine? Or am I Rhegan now?”

Ritona can’t stand this anymore, she breaks the embrace and grabs Selphine with both hands, as if to shake some sense into her.

“Selphine, snap out of it!”

“But-”

“You're not Rhegan. Based on what I know of Queen Rhegan, there’s no way Rhegan would ever worry about any of this!”

Finally Ritona’s words seem to get through to Selphine. She stills.

“Oh.I suppose you’re right.”

Ritona let’s go of Selphine, and they end up sitting like they did to begin with, side by side looking down into the water.

“Deep down you’re still Selphine. Rune thinks so too, right? She’s a really good judge of character, she would notice if you weren’t yourself anymore. And if you do… If you do end up inheriting some of Rhegan’s characteristics, that’s alright too.”

“Ritona!”

“Rhegan wasn’t all bad. I shouldn’t have lectured you about stealing, it wasn’t my place. You were right, we can’t always afford to take the moral highground here if we want to get home.”

“Sometimes, maybe. That doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want though. If I abandon all my morals and principles, I don’t deserve to rule Rughzenhaide.”

Selphine looks so regal, so serious, that Ritona has to chuckle.

“And to think that just a moment ago you were worrying about not being yourself anymore. Selphine, there’s not a doubt in my heart that you are you! You’ve just changed a bit, that’s all. Maybe you changed because of Rhegan, but no one stays the same forever, so you would’ve changed in some way without Rhegan too.”

It’s right then that Rune returns with news of a great guest-house (”They have personal baths!”) and the subject is dropped in favor of making dinner plans. 

 

*

 

Ironically it seems that acknowledging the problem was the key to solving it. Now that none of them are alone in their worries and that everyone knows about what Selphine is going though (Rune too was filled in on the details over a delicious bowl of smoked squid and rice) they can openly bring it up when something Selphine does is particularly Rhegan-like. And Selphine is starting to embrace her newfound ruthlessness - within limits. It turns out that Queen Rhegan was a real card shark, and those skills now find a practical use in some of the larger cities where people actually gamble for money. The dingy saloons where this takes place are less than reputable, and Rune and Ritona are forced to demonstrate their fighting prowess a few times to scare off men who think that a few girls alone are easy prey, but in the end it’s all worth it as they can make a great deal of money without being forced to steal.

Slowly but surely the trio make their way through foreign lands, drawing ever closer and closer to the fates awaiting them in Rughzenhaide.

 

*

 

“How’s your manakravte, Ritona?”

It’s been a month since they left Neo Sasary. At the time they left Ritona was still so weak that she couldn’t even use basic kravte.

“It’s much better now. A few weeks more and I’ll be as good as new.”

“That’s good.” Selphine nods. “We’re vulnerable as long as you aren’t at full strength.”

The sun catches Selphine’s hair just then, and illuminates her pale eyelashes, and suddenly Ritona is struck by the observation that her friend really is quite beautiful. She feels her cheeks heating, while Selphine continues as if nothing had happened and she hadn’t just turned her friend’s entire world upside down.

 

*

 

It’s a cold winter’s morning and Melano has been imprisoned and King Vhala has abdicated in favor of his daughter to atone for his past wrongdoings against Melano’s people (the official reason will be quite different of course). Ritona is bruised, tired, and really quite desperately in need of a bath. But Selphine needs her now more than ever, and so she stands at attention at her side, with a glare daring the ministers and bureaucrats to undermine Selphine’s authority. No longer princess, not yet crowned queen, she is in a precarious position. People still respect the Path-Down, but Selphine’s young age may lead some people to believe that she will be easily manipulated and controlled, a queen in name only.

Ritona need not have worried though. As soon as the first minister makes the mistake of belittling her, Selphine gives him a thorough but unflinchingly polite dressing down. The manner and the aura is very Rhegan, but the way in which she executes it is pure Selphine. It makes Ritona’s heart skip a beat.

“That was magnificent,” she tells Selphine, once all the ministers have returned to their duties and they are alone in the cold hall.

“Was it?” Selphine yawns. She too is tired to the bone. “Rhegan had to deal with a lot of disrespect when she first gained power, the royal line wasn’t as strong back then yet. And even though history remembers her as ‘the bloody’ she couldn’t very well just kill everyone who ever as much as looked wrong at her.”

“No, I guess she wouldn’t have.”

“This crown is sooo heavy”. Usually royalty only wear crowns on special occasions, and Ritona agrees with Selphine that the crown did make an impression upon the various ministers and bureaucrats from earlier.

“Let me help you.”

The crown really _is_ heavy, and cold. As Ritona carefully lifts it off Selphine’s head, her fingers catch in her silky hair. Selphine has such nice hair. Unconsciously, she runs her hand through the golden tresses, admiring them.

“If you’re done petting me, I really need to start writing my coronation speech.”

Blushing crimson, Ritona hastily withdraws her hands from Selphine’s hair, almost dropping the crown in the process. She must’ve been more tired than she thought, to be caught daydreaming like this!

Selphine’s face, once Ritona dares to look at her again, isn’t judging her: instead her gaze is amused and fond, with a hint of something else, something that makes Ritona’s heart beat faster. That indefinable “something else” has to be left for later though, right now they have a coronation to prepare and a country to rebuild. Somehow this all doesn’t feel as daunting to Ritona as it once might have. Selphine is strong, and she is a truly good person. She will become a queen Ritona can admire and willingly serve. And through the Path-Down Selphine has the support of all of her ancestors, even and especially the ruthless Rhegan, whose strength and experience Selphine most intimately can lean on. Rhegan’s personality is strong, and her ghost lives through the royal manakravte, but Selphine is strong too and will not be swallowed up by the past or the ghost of a ruler long dead. As Selphine starts composing her speech with a determined glint in her eye, Ritona thinks to herself that everything is going to turn out just fine.


End file.
